When Bettie Hensley Lowther, Class of
1948, passed away Monday, April 5 there probably was an awesome reunion in
Heaven of Class of 1948 Monongah High military heroes, athletes, cheerleaders, musicians
and other brainy people!
I had a delightful visit with forthright Bettie at
her Pompano Beach, Florida, residence when Paula and I were in the
Fort Lauderdale area in 2014.
Bettie; the late Suzanna Barr Loss, Class of 1948, married to
the late Arnold Loss when they lived in Mill Fall on part of the land once
owned by my aunt and uncle Gezala Futten Loss, sister of my mom, Lena Futten
Olesky, and Frank Loss; and Mary Lee Hertzog Gwinn, Class of 1948, who lives in
Rockville, Maryland, were known as The Three Musketeers because they hung out
together so much at Monongah High, and probably at Marylee’s dad’s Hertzog Drug
Store in Worthington, and were Monongah High high-kicking majorettes together.
The late Jackie Godby Livingston, Class of 1948, also was a
majorette with that group. Her parents were Lawrence and Regina Godby. They
lived next to our baseball “field” that was plowed over so the Catania
brothers, Alex and Angelo, could build a Sinclair station there. Jackie
married W.M. Livingston and moved to Frederick, Illinois.
Otis “Sarge” Shaver, Class of 1948, once wrote: “John, I
remember the majorettes very well. I played sax four years &
marched behind those pretty girls with great (makeup painted) legs & white
short boots. Cloris Jones Laswell (Class of 1947) was one also. Those were the
Great Days.”
Bettie knew Monongah High principal Paul G. Michael from her
Fairview days so she was the
“go-to” girl for anyone who wanted Mr. Michael to approve anything. “I had a
loud voice, too,” Bettie told me. “So loud, in fact, that Coach (George) Ross
had me call in the plays to the football team because they could hear my voice
over the crowd.”
Jackie’s brother, the late Lawrence “Sonny” Godby, was a leader
at Monongah High and in the military.
Sonny was Monongah High student body president and a Marine
fighter pilot who served in Vietnam. Sonny married Carol Yost Godby, also
deceased, a Farmington High graduate. They had 2 sons.
Sonny was part of the facietiously named Gang That Terrorized
Marion County that included Robert “Satch” Kasper, who has homes in South Lyon
and Presque Isle, Michigan; Steven “Bucky” Satterfield, a retired State Highway
Patrol officer for West Virginia living in St. Albans; Donald “Jake” Halpenny,
who took his clarinet to Fairmont to live; Tony Eates, also living in Fairmont;
the late Joe Manzo; the late Anthony “Plumber” DeMary; the late Tom “Judge”
Starcher; Duane Harbert, who lives in Marlton, New Jersey; Frank Franze, who
lives in Slidell, Louisiana; the late Ronnie “Coolie” Delovich; and John
Olesky, the runt of the litter.
Sonny, Satch, Jake, Tony, Plumber, Judge, Duane, Frank and were
in the Class of 1950, a rowdy bunch. Among our feats was, late at night after a
football practice, going down a dark hallway and slipping through the open door
of Principal Paul Michael’s deserted office and going through our class’ IQ
test scores. I had the highest IQ in my class, a 140+ genius (I know, I was
surprised, too) but when it came to grades I finished 9th because I
yakked and goofed off too much.
As for Monongah High athletes:
Eight of the first team members of the Lions’ 1947 football team
were 1948 seniors.
Homer Delovich, John Matkovich, Chester Vozniak, Bob Fox and
Pete Condo were starters in the offensive backfield. Starting on the offensive
line were tackle Louis DePond, center Jimmy Jacobin, tackle Gene Morris. Jim
Pasquale and Ed Debalski were on the squad.
Homer, Louis, Bob and John also were on the basketball team.
Homer, one of the best amateur golfers in West Virginia, once
gave the legendary pro golfer Slammin’ Sammy Snead a run for his money in the
West Virginia State Championship until he shot an 80 while paired with Snead,
who won 14 of the titles. The Green Hills Country Club championship trophy was
renamed for Homer after he passed away and Homer’s son, Dewey, won the trophy
with his dad’s name on its once after four straight near-misses.
Mickey Demus, one of the Demus brothers who lit up the football
scoreboard for Monongah High, moved to New York state.
John Mazza, an excellent Monongah High baseball player, moved to
Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Paul Toothman, another large Monongah High athlete.
June Paxton Rogers, who married Tommy Rogers, and was on the
Carolina girls softball team coached by Cassy Ryan, legendary Mannington High
football coach. June’s sisters are Mary Jean Paxton Ryan, Class
of 1946, and the late Lois Paxton Dufour, Class of 1944. June also was
pretty efficient as a golfer.
As for Monongah High musicians:
Mary Jo Forte, who married Hagan Richards and bounced from
Clarksburg to Las Vegas. Mary Jo was the pianist for singer Leatrice Yokay
Greaser, Class of 1950, when they performed weekly on their Fairmont WMMN radio
show.
Benny Morgan, who passed away in 2016 in Callaway, Maryland, was
music teacher and organist/choir director of
the historic Old Durham Church in Maryland.
As for military heroes, let’s start and end with Otis “Sarge”
Shaver, a nickname he got for being a sergeant in the military.
Bettie moved from Pompano Beach,
Florida in 2016 to reunite with her Youngstown friends. She has four sons,
John (Linda) of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, Kenneth (Roxanne) of Hubbard, Ohio, Daniel
(George) of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Kevin of Dallas, Texas.
Bettie’s parents were Andrew and Belle Hensley.
Bettie’s sister was Neva Hensley
Blagg, who married Vaughn Blagg, was born in Enterprise and passed away at the
age of 90 in 2006 after spending her final years as a St. Barbara’s Memorial
Nursing Home resident just outside Monongah, moving there from her Shinnston
home.
Neva’s children were Kathleen Blagg Goldstein, Class of 1950, who married David
Goldstein and passed away in 2009; Ruth “Inkie” Lemoine Blagg McDonald, who passed away in 2016;
Doris Kendall and husband Ray of Springs Hill; Diana Rotkis and
husband Paul of Anchorage, Alaska; and Eugene “Buck” Blagg, Class of 1951, who
married Joan Pittman Blagg, also Class of 1951 (they live in Idamay). Neva’s children Vaughn Blagg Jr. and Imogene McCullough also predeceased her.
Other Class of 1948 graduates:
Connie Bonasso Rogers, who married Monongah football star
quarterback Carroll Rogers, who grew up across Camden Avenue (U.S. 19) on
Cottage Avenue from the Olesky family of my childhood on Church Street.
Nathleen Cameon Oliverio, who moved from Marion County to East
Chicago, Indiana in the shadow of South Bend and Notre Dame’s Touchdown Jesus.
Agnes Conley
Margie Dean
Mary Lee Evans, who married Monongah High 3-sport superstar
Eddie Luszcynski and was the sister of Lawrence “Sonny” Godby, Class of 1950,
who ran around with me and the rest of The Gang That Terrorized Marion County.
Betty Fitzwater
Dortha Fleming, who married James Herndon, and moved to
Barrackville. She’s deceased.
Shirley Fox Wilson, deceased.
Colleen Haggerty, who married Michael Eates. She is deceased.
Helen Hinton Prahl, who married Clyde Prahl. She is deceased.
Dorothy Koon Felton, who
married Donald Felton and moved to Novelty, Ohio.
Josephine Maset Burdoff
Theresa Nardi Erdelijac
Mildred Paknik Vozniak, who passed away in 2019, married Chester
Vozniak, who predeceased her.
Audra Patrick
Joe Argiro
Mary Theresa Retton
Frances Saverino Pulice, who married Johnny Pulice.
Marion Stafford Pirkheim, who moved to New Brighton,
Pennsylvania.
The late Blanche Toothman, who passed away in Tennesse and was a
sister of Katherine Toothman Crim, Class of 1950, who attended several Monongah
High Alumni Reunions with me and lives in Michigan. Kathryn is the widow of Monongah High grad Reid Crim.
Another sister, Melba, lives in Linden, Missouri.
Gazella Vozniak
Patty Yokay Maddox, who passed away in 2019, was a sister of
Leatrice Yokay Greaser, Class of 1950, who lives in Fairmont.
Bernard Bice
Clarence Collins, deceased.
Michael Eates, whose large group of siblings including Tony
Eates, Class of 1950, who lives in Fairmont with wife Lucy Cann Eates.
Nick Fiori, deceased, who did the best imitation of a Japanese
soldier falling out of a tree as a Fairmont Field Club caddy waiting for work,
which briefly left him unconscious.
Andrew Fluharty
Daniel Hoffman
Edmund Kanios, who had several siblings who also graduated from
Monongah High.
Eddie McVicker, who moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Nathleen Cameon Oliverio, who moved to East Chicago, Indiana.
Jim Pulice of Worthington, my CYO basketball coach during my
Monongah High days. I was one of the last players to come off the bench every
game.
Ronald Rogers, who lives in Bossier City, Louisiana and in
Georgia after Monongah High.
Tommy Rogers, who passed away in 2000.
Stanley Stevenski, who married the late children’s author Linda
Tomlinski Stevenski, Class of 1955.
Henry Thobois
Walter Uchick, whose brother, Teddy Uchick, Class of 1950, was
in my MHS class.
Carl Vandetta, who grew up on Mill Fall Road that I passed every
time I went to my aunt and uncle, Gezala Futten Loss, sister of my mother, Lena
Futten Olesky, and Frank Loss to get milk. I broke many gallons of milk by
dropping it on the brick road from the Loss farm in Mill Fall to Monongah.
Super klutz, that was me.
Jim Weaver, who passed away in 2004.
Ron Wilson
The late Mary Louise Baker Orsini started with Class of
1948 but dropped out to work at Westinghouse. She is
survived by her husband of 68 years, Tony Orsini, of the legendary Worthington
athletic Orsini brothers at Monongah High. Mary Louise and Tony lived on
Swisher Hill. Tony,
Class of 1946, previously had dated Betty Hensley Lowther.
Bettie’s
obituary:
Bettie A. Lowther of Youngstown, loving mother to four sons, proud
grandmother of three and great grandmother of five, died on Monday, April 5,
2021, following a brief illness. She was born on September 15, 1929, in
Fairmont, West Virginia, the youngest of ten children.
Bettie enjoyed her time with Saint Mark Antiochian Orthodox Church
where she was an active member through 2011, when she moved to Florida to be
closer to her son Dan. In 2016 she moved back to Youngstown to get back to her
good friends and because she always considered it 'home'. She enjoyed reading,
playing games on her PC and spending time with family.
Bettie was preceded in death by her husband, John Lowther, parents
Belle and Andy Hensley as well as her siblings, Doris, Pearl, Neva, Clyde,
Crystal, Gertrude, Luther, Charles, and Donald. She has four sons, John (Linda)
of Mukwonago, WI, Kenneth (Roxanne) of Hubbard, OH, Daniel (George) of Ft.
Lauderdale, FL, and Kevin of Dallas, TX. Three grandchildren, April, Justin
(Rosemarie) and Johnny (Kristen). Five great grandchildren, Gianna, Lucy,
Gwendolyn, Lola and Miranda.
There will be no memorial service per Bettie's wishes. Interment will be
at Lake Park Cemetery.
